1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of animal toys and more specifically, to hollow rollable animal toys.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although many animal toys exist in various shapes and sizes, it is particularly desirable to produce animal toys having a skeletal structure of unitary, one-piece construction that is able to roll and bounce. The skeletal structure of the toy allows the animal to grasp the toy with its teeth and substantially lightens the toy, while the capability of rolling and bouncing increases the attractiveness of the toy to the animal. The capability of rolling dictates that the skeletal structure form a sphere, a cylinder, or a shape that is substantially spherical, cylindrical or otherwise rounded in some fashion. The requirement that the toy bounce indicates that it must be made of some elastomeric material. If however, the unitary construction is to be made spherical in nature or even in the form of a cylinder, the problem presents itself of extracting the one-piece mold on which the skeletal structure is formed from the inside of the skeletal structure after the skeletal structure is formed.
The present invention comprises a substantially spherical or cylindrical skeletal structure of unitary construction made of natural rubber, which is capable of rolling and bouncing. Natural rubber is preferred for the one-piece skeletal structure since it will stretch enough when hot and newly formed to allow the internal mold to be pulled out of the skeletal structure, in contrast with synthetic elastomers which may not have the requisite elasticity to allow extraction of the internal mold after forming of the unitary structure. Focusing on the extraction of the internal mold from the skeletal structure is important since the skeletal structure is of a unitary construction, and such extraction must be performed without damaging the integrity of the structure. Furthermore, natural rubber has superior tear resistance when compared to the tear resistance of synthetic elastomers, which is important in an animal toy likely to be grasped with an animal""s teeth.
The holes in the skeletal structure must be of sufficient size to allow the mold to be extracted from the skeletal structure after forming on that mold, so that the extraction does not breach the integrity of the structure, yet the holes must not be so large to interfere with the rolling capability of the skeletal structure. The elastomeric quality of the natural rubber used for the skeletal structure will also allow compression of the skeletal structure during shipment to enable more skeletal structures to be packed into a smaller space than would otherwise be possible.